The Devil's Angel
by PureWaterLily
Summary: "Have you ever heard of the story? Of the little boy, who shot down an angel, that fell right into the hands of the devil?" Implied MadaIta and ItaSasu/SasuIta.


The Devil's Angel

**Summary**: Madara drowns himself in a bar, listening to the song of a gypsy. He reflects over Itachi's death and loses his sanity. Implied MadaIta and ItaSasu (cough, SasuIta, cough).

* * *

"Have you ever heard of the story?

Of the little boy

Who shot down an angel

Right into hands of the devil…"

The bar is small. But it is warm and provides shelter for victims of the pouring rain. Small candle flames light each table. The rest of the room is shrouded in darkness, except for the stage. Upon it, a suspicious woman is singing to the hum of the instruments. A common gypsy lady, dark skinned with pitch-black wavy hair, blending perfectly into the rest of the dim restaurant. She sings not like a bird, but whispers like a ghost. A taunting ghost. I see the deceitful smirk engraved in her face. And smiling eyes. Eyes that look down into the darkness and single you out. They are teasing eyes, ones that have an all-knowing look in them.

Those should be my eyes. But not today.

I sit alone, in the corner, where shadows consume my presence. This place is eerie, yet delightful. The powerful aroma is heavy and weighs you down. Men with burdens come here often, I think, chuckling. How ironic.

The alcohol is concentrated, yet neither its taste nor odor can penetrate me. My mind ignores its existence, letting the liquid burn me from within.

Even now, as I replay my previous conversation with the clueless descendant in my mind, I cannot help but bawl my hands into fists. Fists that will most likely smash through someone's skull, if I do not manage my anger quickly.

Foolish boy. Foolish little boy. He always has been a blind, hardheaded foolish human. My conscience drifts over to the gypsy lady. Her singing is as fluid and mystical as the heavy air. How fitting, this song she sings.

"An innocent little human boy

Decided to play with his new little toy

Shot an arrow, so high did it fly

Right into an angel up in the sky

And pierced the angel's pure heart

And heaven did it depart

Falling…

Falling…"

I sneer. Yes, quite fitting indeed. Sasuke, Sasuke, the stupid and blind human boy. The look on his face when I told him said it all. He is an arrogant _boy _that still has no idea of the world. He is single-minded, never able to grasp what he is doing. Just like the rest of the disgraceful clan.

He was unaware. Never saw through the illusions everyone cast around him. Unknowingly, he made his goal to kill his older brother, the one who cared the most for him.

Itachi tried to hide it, and he had done exceptionally well at keeping his secret. He fooled everyone. The clan, the village, the most elite criminals. But not me. I was the one person that tore down each and every one of his masks. I was the one that saw him _weak_. Defenseless. Eyes filled with anguish and agony, yet not granted the privilege of having tears. Nothing to relieve his pain.

_You probably can't imagine how hard it was for him._

I should feel special, in a sick way. Being the only one to see him silently weeping. Kill me, kill me now, he asked. No, begged. He was denied that too, just like he was denied tears.

He was completely exposed once. Only once, a moment of weakness he displayed in front of me after he massacred his kin.

_The man who cried tears of blood as he smothered his emotions and killed his brethren._

Yet, he wished to die not because of that. No, not because of spilling his family's blood. Not because he was exiled and banished and condemned. Not because he was forced to submit himself and lean into my arms for support.

He wished to die after causing tears roll down his brother's cheeks.

_He took it all on himself. No one can blame him for the sacrifice he made._

"Little boy, you pulled him down

From the sky to the ground

Did you know little boy?

Little boy, you torn out its wings

So only for you will it sing…

Little boy, it fell in love with you

Despite how you broke it

It still gave you its heart"

I could never understand the inner workings of Itachi. Granted, I was able to pry into his mind and see what was inside. I _knew _him better than anyone. Yet, when each piece of his life was revealed in front of me in black and white, I still was not able to comprehend. Maybe I didn't understand his weakness. Love. The word alone was a cryptic message; one I could never decode. I acknowledge the existence of love and its power. I know how to use it to my benefit. How it affects people. But love itself, that emotion, that state, that mentality, I just do not understand.

…_a peaceful man that hated conflict. He loved the village, not wrapped up in clan difference. The elders used that to their advantage._

Itachi was not blind. He always knew when he was being manipulated. There were no puppeteers when _he _was the one controlling their strings. I had a difficult time subduing him myself. Always in a deadly game for control and gaining the upper hand over the other. Such a dangerous dance made for us and us alone. For someone so intelligent and powerful. He was _perfect_. Anyone else would have been a bore.

Then why were his actions completely irrational?

_It was part of his duty, and Itachi fulfilled it. Except for one mistake…_

_He couldn't kill you Sasuke, couldn't kill you.._

Why did he love his clan, letting them use him as a tool, when he had the power to make it the other way around? Why did he love the village that betrayed him and shunned him? When they branded him, turned his life into a living nightmare, then discarded him when he was too shattered. Why did he love his little brother? When he had done nothing for him.

_He was worried about you._

Why did was he worried for Sasuke? Sasuke was a child. He saw him as an older brother. He wanted to _play_. That was it. He didn't care if Itachi was exhausted. He didn't know that in the room next to his, Itachi was muffing a scream of agony so he wouldn't wake his little brother up. Sasuke didn't go bother to walk up and get a closer look at the nightmares that plagued Itachi's mind. Sasuke just wanted a person to _play _with, to be entertained by.

Meanwhile, _I _was the one who watched the boy at night, admiring his beauty as he struggled in eternal pools of darkness. _I _was the one curious, the one who wanted to know what he was thinking of, dreaming of, wishing of. And what he was haunted and despaired by.

_I _was the one who KNEW, and _I _was the one who CARED. Not Sasuke. That was why I when I learned of Itachi's dreams, I became the one to strangle in Itachi the dark and break him. Itachi's wishes and fears were not about me. They were only about his brother. His happiness came from Sasuke's smiles. His suffering was from Sasuke's tears. His fears were not of _me _hurting _him, _but of me hurting _his precious little brother_.

_Always thinking of you._

Yes, Sasuke. He was always thinking of you. Only thinking of you and you alone.

I didn't exist.

"A playful devil watched from below

A wonderful curse he bestowed

To make the angel his own toy

For him alone to enjoy

The beautiful angel he had in chains

And watched it die crying in pain

Sinking…

Sinking…"

Even when he was in my clutches, he still didn't belong to me. In my organization, under my commands, my will. His very life was in my hands, yet I couldn't have him. He signed his soul to me. Yet, his mind, his _heart_, all were stolen away from me by the little brat.

I couldn't have them. They were out of my reach because he gave them up to his brother. And how did the fool treat the heart that I would kill countless for? He took all the love Itachi gave him and _threw it away_. He planted hatred in its place instead. He ignored the silent pleads from his older brother's heart. The ones that cried for his little brother to not believe him. Begging for him to see that everything was all an act. He still cared, he never left him, he never stopped watching him. For him to just open his eyes.

And what did the foolish boy do? He believed Itachi's lies instead. He believed that his words were more real than his thoughts. His illusions were more real than his love. What a blind boy.

How the fates seem to love irony.

But Itachi didn't care. He didn't care if his heart was crushed. He accepted the child's foolish hatred. It became his twisted form of what love was. No one loved Itachi, only hated him. So the more they loathed him, the more he was loved. He fueled Sasuke's hatred. After all, if his little brother did not hate him anymore, he would be empty. Void of both love and hate. He didn't want to be forgotten by his little brother. In a way, that was his one selfish desire, for his little brother to not forget him.

_He wanted to die a criminal, a traitor. Accepting dishonor in payment for honor… and hatred in payment for love…_

Perhaps if would be fun to see what would happen if Sasuke did forget and stopped chasing him. I would wish to see what Itachi would become. Maybe a crumbled shell? If he was only a shell, maybe I could feed new hatred into him. Get him to hate ME. Yes, forget your little brother and despise me. Hate was a strong emotion, and I wanted the boy's emotions for myself. But no, he was cold and indifferent towards me.

Even when I hit him, driving him into the ground until he was a motionless corpse. But that did little; he was used to physical pain. Even when I taunted him, using the harshest words that haunted his thoughts. He acted as if he could not hear, hiding the mental wounds. _Even when I stole whatever innocence he had left_. When I crushed his lips with mine and devoured him hungrily. Taking him and marking him so everyone would know he was MINE.

Yet... he would not hate me. He would show no emotion to me whatsoever. He would not fight back, only submit. Like a living doll. A _broken _living doll.

I became obsessive of him. I repeatedly tried and failed to obtain him. That was how it was for a long time, until I learned another way around it.

I took Itachi's beautiful form of love for his brother and used it to my advantage. I decided to threaten him, _blackmail him_. I dwelled in his fear and absorbed the horror in his eyes when I said I'd pursue his brother.

Stay away from him, he had warned me, red eyes spinning dangerously. To my pleasure, I got his anger. His disgust. And his helplessness. What I wanted, I got, and he knew that. I almost laughed when he finally turned his attention to me and begged to take him instead. In exchange for his body, I would stay away from his brother's. Anything to keep my hands away from Sasuke. Anything to keep him _pure _and _untainted._

His brother was the key to his emotions, and I realized it was all I needed. I made the child my new target and broke my promise.

I did go after his little brother, but not in the way I made him think. I tracked him personally, trying to unlock the secret. To discover why he was so precious to him. Only to find that there was nothing special, which enraged me more. To ordinary people, the boy was a genius. To me, he was mediocre.

_For him, your life… weighed more than the village._

Not just that. This STUPID child's life weighed more than Itachi's own welfare. This single insignificant life was more treasured by him than anything else.

WHY? He was not deserving of Itachi. I WAS.

I now have the little kid, the fool, in my hands. Everyone believes his potential will surpass his older brother's, and that I crave his power. No, I am nothing like the foolish Orochimaru. I see absolutely no power in the boy. He will never reach his older brother's level, never surpass him. I scoff at those who think otherwise. Itachi at thirteen was twice as powerful as the fool is now. It is truly pathetic how the boy had to rely on back-doors and pitiful schemes to gain power. Itachi was an angel. He was beautiful. Graceful. Intelligent. Deadly. Perfect. Ever so perfectly flawed. Someone worthy of collecting and having.

On the other hand, the _boy _is merely human. They were playing in different leagues, and that's all he ever will attain. The powers of a human. Just _pathetic_. As if he could imitate Itachi.

"Did you know playful devil?

Playful devil, it did it of its will

To protect the little boy, it bid farewell

Playful devil, it was never yours

It used you to save the boy from condemnation

From God, for shooting down an angel"

_But you are ALIVE. _I had screamed mentally, while trying to calmly tell the same thing to the fool.

While the angel died, the brat lived. The boy who stole his heart from me is alive. And now he stole his life from me as well. Sasuke lived, while Itachi died.

Kill me, Itachi had begged. I should had complied with his request and showed mercy. At least then, his life would be taken by my hands. But I was selfish and wanted to keep him. Keep him alive and make him walk this living hell of a life with me. Now I am walking it alone again, while he's finally freed and has gotten his wings back. I should have killed him when he asked me. I knew he'd never be mine, no matter how hard I tried. No matter how much I forced it upon him. He is simply not mine. He is Sasuke's.

Sasuke can be mine. He's under my control now. But what good does it do me when the one I truly want alive is dead.

He could have lived like me. He could have taken the cursed eyes and forever be with me. He could have stopped the suffering. Cured his disease. Be alive. But no. No. NO. He had to DIE, to be KILLED at the hands of his beloved. He wanted make his little brother witness his death, so the brat would be crowned a _hero_.

I didn't care. I was not granting that wish of his either. I took Sasuke away and gritted through my teeth, telling the brat the truth. My arms were tightly folded the entire encounter, to restrain myself from killing the fool myself.

Fool.

Murderer.

Thief.

He killed my angel. He killed my beautiful angel. MINE.

"Little boy, the angel died for you

Playful devil, the boy killed for you

Beautiful angel, the devil will burn the world for you"

Shut up! SHUT UP! The whispers are clawing at my insanity. Without a second thought, I knock down the candle at my table and within a second, my hand is at the neck of the gypsy. She looks shocked, but then her lips curl into a sly smile. The two of us are alone in our worlds, separated from the mob of panic. The instruments stop, yet I still hear the tune. The entire room is frantic, yet the only noise is her singing.

STOP SINGING. WHY WILL YOU NOT STOP SINGING? My eyes are dangerous, the black orbs swimming rapidly in pools of crimson. They hiss for bloodshed, and I gladly comply.

Flames spread rapidly, engulfing the place. Dangerous explosions and flickers of fire grow more dangerous as they consume the liquor. Screams fill my ears, yet I am impervious to it all. I just keep my grip on the lady's neck. The ghost. I strangle her, so much I snap her neck right off, and the woman's blood splatters over my entire body.

The head rolls to the floor, yet the lady refuses to stop singing and smirking. The lips still move, humming its tune on the lone, severed head. It refuses to stop singing.

"Now you know the story…

Of the little boy

Who shot down an angel

Right into the hands of the devil…"

The small dim bar is no more. The screams are yelled into unheard ears. Nothing but ashes left.

My sanity is back in place after seeing the pitiful place mutate into nothing but black smoke submerged by pouring rain. And my face regains its composure, back to into the mask of Tobi. The playful and deceiving eyes in place. The signature smirk on my lips. The fearful and commanding aura back in place.

Just watch, Itachi, I think, looking at the weeping sky, and cannot help grinning. I'll pull you back down from heaven. I'll force you out. I'll burn everything you love. I'll destroy your little brother. I'll destroy Konoha. Everything!

Everyone and everything!

Then you'll return to earth from heaven to save them and then, I'll succeed in making you mine. All mine! All mine…

"Watch the world burn in his wrath…

Watch the world burn in his wrath…"


End file.
